Hong Kong Free Press launches its 2018 HK$1m Funding Drive

The Hong Kong Free Press 2018 Funding Drive seeks to raise HK$1m in a month to support our non-profit newsroom and dedicated team of multi-media, multi-lingual reporters. HKFP is backed by readers, run by journalists and is immune to political and commercial pressure. No shareholders, tycoons, mainland owners or umbrella company can tell us to alter, bury or censor a story. This year’s critical fundraiser will provide us with the essential funds to continue our work into next year.

Funding Drive 2018

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Donation Total:
$500.00

Whilst English-language journalism in Hong Kong can be tough and expensive, supporting us needn’t be! In just a couple of minutes, you can ensure our independence and help safeguard press freedom with a donation to HKFP.

We are committed to reporting the facts without fear, favour or interference. Please consider making a donation today, and see how carefully we spend every cent entrusted to us by viewing our latest Transparency Report.

We aim to be the most independent and credible English-language news source in Greater China. We seek to amplify the voices of the voiceless, not the powerful. And our platform will act as a monitor should Hong Kong’s core values and freedoms be threatened. The HKFP team is fully committed to reporting the facts, without fear, favour or interference.

HKFP has served up over 26.5 million pageviews since our 2015 launch.

We now reach over 76,800Facebook fans and 81,400Twitter followers.

No.2 on social media among all Hong Kong English-language news outlets.

Our team have published over 10,000 news and comment pieces in under three years, hosting writing from 242 authors and organisations.

We are reaching thousands of readers though our newsletter, apps, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, G+, Telegram and other channels.

HKFP attracts 30% more social traffic and 70% more direct traffic than 20 other similarly sized local news sites.

Following our pledge to invest in original reporting, the number of homegrown features we published this year almost doubled. We also gave greater emphasis to social, human rights and minority issues and launched a new opinion section.

HKFP won recognition as a newspaper this autumn after a years-long fight against the government. Previously, the authorities barred HKFP and other digital media from attending government press conferences to question officials. We succeeded with the support of the Committee to Protect Journalists, Amnesty International, the Journalists Association, Reporters Without Borders and others.

In February, we “redacted” our website as part of a campaign for Amnesty International. By censoring our homepage for a day, we helped to raise awareness about the increasing threat to free expression in the city.

The HKFP story was covered by the BBC, Al-Jazeera, Southside Magazine, Hong Kong Tatler, Deutschlandfunk, NOS and RTHK this year. Meanwhile, our staff reported for an international audience on BBC World, ABC Australia and others.

HKFP moved its operations from Cyberport to The Hive following a public appeal. As the team lost access to desktop PCs, a kind donor provided four new Dell computers.

We rolled out Facebook Live video coverage at events, and published our first 360 sphere image. We also launched and automated our Flickr, Pushbullet, Psiphon and Instagram feeds.

HKFP staff spoke at four local universities and at conferences in the US, India and Hong Kong. We hosted several groups of local and foreign journalism studentsand school groups at our office.

In 2017, HKFP improved staff conditions to meet or exceed industry standards, and held five professional development workshops.

In June, we rolled out a new Stripe payment system for monthly donations, making it easier and faster for readers to make a one-off or regular donation. The self-hosted system also saved us thousands of dollars in administrative fees.

Editor-in-Chief & Co-Director Tom Grundy is a British multimedia journalist based in Hong Kong for 12 years. He has a BA in Communications & New Media from Leeds University and an MA in Journalism from the University of Hong Kong. He has contributed to BBC World TV and radio, Huffington Post, Quartz, Global Post, Time Out, Democracy Now, Sky News and Channel News Asia. In 2012, he founded the popular local news/culture platform, hongwrong.com. In 2013, he co-founded a multimedia and legal campaign for domestic workers.

Editorial Director Kris Cheng is a Hong Kong journalist with an interest in local politics. His work has been featured in Washington Post, Public Radio International, Hong Kong Economic Times and others. He has a BSSc in Sociology from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. At HKFP, Kris guides the team’s daily Hong Kong political coverage.

Deputy Editor Catherine Lai is a Canadian journalist and photographer who lived in Beijing for almost two years, working in TV and online media. Aside from Hong Kong and mainland affairs, she is also interested in urban spaces, art and feminism. She holds a BA in Literature and Art History from the University of British Columbia. Catherine was quickly promoted to Deputy Editor after joining HKFP in 2016.

Senior Reporter Karen Cheung is a journalist and writer. She is the co-founder and managing editor of Still / Loud, a new music & culture online magazine in Hong Kong. She has written for Al Jazeera, openDemocracy, ArtAsiaPacific, The Underground HK, and HKELD, amongst others. In her past life as a law student, Karen worked at Daly & Associates, DLA Piper, and Eastern Chambers. She is a BA and LLB graduate from the University of Hong Kong, leading HKFP’s legal coverage.

Hong Kong Free Press would not be possible without the support and assistance of our countless tech, accounting and editorial volunteers.

Latest Transparency Report

As a non-profit company, HKFP is externally audited every year. Our income and expenditure for the period between 1/1/2016 and 31/12/2016 was as follows:

Income

Amount

Donations

HK$1,063,125

Advertising

HK$92,276

Events

HK$8,352

Bank interest

HK$12

Total:

HK$1,163,765

Expenditure

Amount

Staff payroll

HK$1,035,523

Mandatory Provident Fund (pensions)

HK$50,942

Website, newswire text/photo, software

HK$33,083

Office, sundry and recruitment expenses

HK$25,801

Meals/drinks for volunteers and staff

HK$25,531

Legal, professional and audit fees

HK$10,845

Merchandise and delivery expenses

HK$10,500

Travel

HK$8,267

Stationery and printing

HK$6,624

Bank charges

HK$2,218

Total:

HK$1,209,334

Our balance as of the end of the year was a deficit of HK$45,569.

In comparison, HKFP ended 2015 with a surplus of HK91,654 after tax.

We are on target to end 2017 with a surplus.

As a non-profit, any surplus is recycled back into the company.

HKFP is run as efficiently and prudently as possible, in order to maximise the impact of our donors’ generosity. We make savings by partnering with other media outlets, using free software wherever possible and making full use of automation to save on labour costs. In 2016, we also enjoyed free rent at our office courtesy of D100 Radio.

HKFP will shift towards a monthly donor model after our 2018 annual fundraiser. As of the end of 2017, we already have a total of 99 HKFP Patrons. We need around 500 patrons in order to become fully self-sustaining.

Through Fringebacker/PayPal, 59 monthly donors give an average of HK$268 – totaling HK$13,535/month. Through our self-hosted Stripe payment system, we have 40 patrons giving an average of HK$152 – totalling HK$6,232/month.

We receive HK$19,767 from patrons each month, excluding those who donate by cheque/transfer. Donors are overwhelmingly from Hong Kong, though we also have backers in the US, UK, Australia and China.

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What is Hong Kong Free Press?

Hong Kong Free Press is a non-profit English language news source seeking to unite critical voices. Free and independent, HKFP launched in 2015 amid rising concerns over declining press freedom in Hong Kong and during an important time in the city’s constitutional development.
Click here to learn how you can support us and ensure our independence.